can come out of it. we ll see. hopefully. now to arizona. hundreds of homeowners who have ignored evacuation orders are now being forced out. and that s because a wildfire threatening their historic mining town nearly tripled in size in just 24 hours. as abc s ryan owens reports, it s a difficult battle for firefighters. reporter: the smoke can be seen from phoenix nearly 100 miles away. the so-called sunflower fire has already burned nine square miles. and it s just one of four fires now burning in arizona. the next days are critical in fire weather as far as the winds that are coming through. so we have a lot of concerns as to how the fire is going to move and what s going to happen. reporter: the gladiator fire in central arizona is the most dangerous. it s consumed more than 2,000 acres and has forced the evacuation of the historic mining town of crown king. it s getting kind of close. and so we don t even know if we can go back yet. reporter: with the blaze just a mi
this morning on world news now courtroom drama. john edwards defense attorneys bring an abrupt end to their case by calling no star witnesses. setting the stage for today s big closing arguments in the former presidential candidate s conspiracy trial. it s thursday, may 17th. announcer: from abc news, this is world news now. happy friday eve, everybody. i m rob nelson. and i m diana perez. paula faris is on assignment. we ll get to the legal drama in the john edwards case in just a moment. and then, we re going to take you to suburban atlanta where students and parents are frightened. police say a man with a sniper s rifle was taking aim at school buses. also this morning, the shoes sold with some pretty promising claims to get you in shape. the false advertising, the
extraordinary. he began to crawl straight toward an enemy bunker, its machine guns blazing. and then he grabbed a grenade and he pulled the pin. he saved his comrades who meant more to him than life. reporter: 36 of them came to washington for the ceremony. each of them alive today because of leslie s sacrifice so long ago. sherisse pham, abc news, washington. this is an incredibly touching story. wow. my dad actually was a marine in vietnam. and so just to hear him talk about his buddies and all of his stories and of the people who did those things for him, it s so touching. so that is beautiful. my dad is a vietnam vet as well. and this man, leslie, died at 22 years old. may 10, 1978. a young, young man. reminiscent of things the country is going through again 40 years later. so happy for her. better late than never, she got
this morning on world news now tragic discovery. the death that is shocking the kennedy family. sources say robert kennedy y jr. s wife mary took her own life in her home in suburban new york. it s thursday, may 17th. ouncer: from abc news, news, this is world news now. good morning, everybody. i m rob nelson. i m diana perez in for paula faris. we ll get to the kennedy family tragedy in just a moment. bring you details bring you details of a bizarre story from ected rocks on rnia. a woman who collected rocks on he beach is now suffering serious burns when those rocks ignited in her pants pocket. autism research. wow. doct also this morning, a major development in autism research.
and facebook is ready to go public on the stock market tomorrow. and the company s value could top 100 billion bucks. despite all that wall street buzz, facebook is losing some pretty big advertisers. more on this from abc s t.j. winick. reporter: just days before facebook plans to file its initial public offering, general motors has announced it s pulling out of the social media giant. that will cost the company about $10 million a year in advertising. gm says it s just not been effective for them. they re not going to be doing ads on facebook. we heard bloomberg give a call to the other automakers. ford says they are continuing. they are going to be spending more on facebook. and what this really raises is the question of, you know, how effective is facebook going to be? reporter: jerome cleary is betting facebook will continue to be good business. he s never bought a stock in his life, but that will change friday when his favorite website goes public. i have read things that